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Cicero. I am so tired of Cicero tonight, like you would not even believe.
Chapter 45
You heard when he spoke for himself, you heard before when he accused--I speak for the sake of defending this case, not for boasting--a kind of oration, capability, plenty of feelings and words, which, with your intelligence, you saw through. And in this you were not only seeing his talent shine forth (which talent often, even if it were not nourished by work, nevertheless would itself be strong by its own powers), but also present was (unless by chance he deceived me on account of affection) reason, established by the liberal arts and developed by care and vigilance. And yet, judges, be aware that these desires which are brought up for Caelius, and these interests in the things which I dismiss, cannot easily exist in the same man. For it cannot be that that a soul given over to lust, hindered by love, desire, passion, often too much wealth, even sometimes by scarcity!, is able to sustain this, whatever we make of it in speaking, whatever method we use, not only in acting but truly even in thinking.*
Chapters 46-55
(I am, alas, skipping these; some were skipped in class, and some I translated while not near a computer to write bits down, and at this point it's slow enough to re-translate that I can't take the time to do so. I may come back and fill in the gaps some day.)
Chapter 56
(We have now moved past the general discussion of what happened, and what everyone's characters are, to wander through the realm of Cicero proving what "really" happened based on Pure Oratorial Logic. Cicero has, by conflating Caelius's request for gold from Clodia with his murder attempt on Dio, dismissed that charge entirely as ludicrous.)
Therefore the charge regarding poison is left; of which I am able to to neither find the beginning nor discover the conclusion. For what was the reason on which account Caelius wished to give poison to this woman? So as not to repay the gold? When did she ask for it? So the charge wouldn't stick? When did anyone bring it? When did anyone then make a mention of it, if this man accused no one? And furthermore, you heard L. Herennius say briefly that he would not have been bothersome to Caelius, unless that man brought charges again regarding his own acquitted charge of familiarity. Therefore is it credible that some great a crime was committed for no reason? and do you not see that the charge of the greatest crime was fabricated so that it would seem to be the reason for undertaking another crime?**
Chapter 57
Then for what was it committed, what accomplice did he use, what friend, what conspirator, to whom did he entrust so great a crime, to whom himself, to whom his well-being? For thus it is claimed. And was he so stupid, the man to whom we attribute talent, even if you claim otherwise in your hostile speech, that he would have entrusted all his fortunes to another man's slaves? And to what servants?--for this itself is especially important--to those which he thought didn't experience the common condition of slavery, but lived with their mistress in a licentious and free familiarity? For who doesn't see this, judges, or who doesn't know, that in a house of this style, in which the Mater Familias lives in the style of a courtesan, in which nothing happens which ought to be brought outside, in which unusual passions, luxuries, even all unheard-of vices and shameful deeds occur--here, slaves aren't slaves, to whom all things are entrusted, through which all things are carried out, the same man who gets involved in the pleasures, to whom secrets are entrusted, towards whom a great amount flows even from the daily expenses and luxuries? Therefore did Caelius not see this?
Chapter 58
For if there was as great a familiarity with the woman as you wish, he knew that those slaves were friendly to their mistress. But if there was not so great a custom of it as you allege, then what familiarity with her slaves could be so great?
However, what reason was fabricated for the poison itself? where was it sought, by what method was it prepared, by what means, for whom, in what location was it brought? They say he had it at home and he tested its power on the same slave who prepared it for this very purpose; by whose very rapid death the poison was proved to Caelius.
Chapter 59
By the immortal gods! why do you meanwhile either overlook the greatest crimes against a man or reserve the penalty of a present fraud for a later time? For I saw, I saw and I drank that most bitter pain in life, when Q. Metellus*** was removed from the bosom and lap of his country, and when that man (who thought he was born to this empire on the third day) after he flourished in the court, in the rostra, in the republic, in the prime of his life, the best health, his greatest strength, was seized without dignity from all the good men^ and the entire state. Indeed, at the time that man was dying, when now the mind was oppressed in other respects, he reserved the greatest sense for the memory of the republic, when looking at me, wounded, he noted with an interrupted and dying voice how great a storm impeded me, how great a storm to the state, and when often touching that wall which was common to him with Q. Catulus^^ he repeatedly named Catulus, often me, most often the republic, so that he pained me not so much that he was dying as that he was robbed of his praetorship with the nation and even me.
---
* I believe the gist of this sentence is "Caelius couldn't be such a smart boy if he spent all his time being bad, because being a good politician takes a lot of work!" I find this somewhat unconvincing, but, hey. There you have it.
** Not really sure what this means; I guess something along the lines of "Clodia accused Caelius of trying to poison her to make it seem more likely that he tried to murder Dio," as the proposed fiendish conspiracy. But then, the footnotes refer to this whole chapter as part of Cicero's "strategy of confusion", which seems about right.
*** Clodia's dead husband. For what it's worth, none of the academic resources I'm reading seem to think she actually poisoned him, though some of them use rather dubious reasoning to decide that.
^ A stock phrase referring to the conservative party Cicero belonged to.
^^ No, not Catullus. Catulus. A staunch old conservative of the same party who'd died the year before.
Chapter 45
You heard when he spoke for himself, you heard before when he accused--I speak for the sake of defending this case, not for boasting--a kind of oration, capability, plenty of feelings and words, which, with your intelligence, you saw through. And in this you were not only seeing his talent shine forth (which talent often, even if it were not nourished by work, nevertheless would itself be strong by its own powers), but also present was (unless by chance he deceived me on account of affection) reason, established by the liberal arts and developed by care and vigilance. And yet, judges, be aware that these desires which are brought up for Caelius, and these interests in the things which I dismiss, cannot easily exist in the same man. For it cannot be that that a soul given over to lust, hindered by love, desire, passion, often too much wealth, even sometimes by scarcity!, is able to sustain this, whatever we make of it in speaking, whatever method we use, not only in acting but truly even in thinking.*
Chapters 46-55
(I am, alas, skipping these; some were skipped in class, and some I translated while not near a computer to write bits down, and at this point it's slow enough to re-translate that I can't take the time to do so. I may come back and fill in the gaps some day.)
Chapter 56
(We have now moved past the general discussion of what happened, and what everyone's characters are, to wander through the realm of Cicero proving what "really" happened based on Pure Oratorial Logic. Cicero has, by conflating Caelius's request for gold from Clodia with his murder attempt on Dio, dismissed that charge entirely as ludicrous.)
Therefore the charge regarding poison is left; of which I am able to to neither find the beginning nor discover the conclusion. For what was the reason on which account Caelius wished to give poison to this woman? So as not to repay the gold? When did she ask for it? So the charge wouldn't stick? When did anyone bring it? When did anyone then make a mention of it, if this man accused no one? And furthermore, you heard L. Herennius say briefly that he would not have been bothersome to Caelius, unless that man brought charges again regarding his own acquitted charge of familiarity. Therefore is it credible that some great a crime was committed for no reason? and do you not see that the charge of the greatest crime was fabricated so that it would seem to be the reason for undertaking another crime?**
Chapter 57
Then for what was it committed, what accomplice did he use, what friend, what conspirator, to whom did he entrust so great a crime, to whom himself, to whom his well-being? For thus it is claimed. And was he so stupid, the man to whom we attribute talent, even if you claim otherwise in your hostile speech, that he would have entrusted all his fortunes to another man's slaves? And to what servants?--for this itself is especially important--to those which he thought didn't experience the common condition of slavery, but lived with their mistress in a licentious and free familiarity? For who doesn't see this, judges, or who doesn't know, that in a house of this style, in which the Mater Familias lives in the style of a courtesan, in which nothing happens which ought to be brought outside, in which unusual passions, luxuries, even all unheard-of vices and shameful deeds occur--here, slaves aren't slaves, to whom all things are entrusted, through which all things are carried out, the same man who gets involved in the pleasures, to whom secrets are entrusted, towards whom a great amount flows even from the daily expenses and luxuries? Therefore did Caelius not see this?
Chapter 58
For if there was as great a familiarity with the woman as you wish, he knew that those slaves were friendly to their mistress. But if there was not so great a custom of it as you allege, then what familiarity with her slaves could be so great?
However, what reason was fabricated for the poison itself? where was it sought, by what method was it prepared, by what means, for whom, in what location was it brought? They say he had it at home and he tested its power on the same slave who prepared it for this very purpose; by whose very rapid death the poison was proved to Caelius.
Chapter 59
By the immortal gods! why do you meanwhile either overlook the greatest crimes against a man or reserve the penalty of a present fraud for a later time? For I saw, I saw and I drank that most bitter pain in life, when Q. Metellus*** was removed from the bosom and lap of his country, and when that man (who thought he was born to this empire on the third day) after he flourished in the court, in the rostra, in the republic, in the prime of his life, the best health, his greatest strength, was seized without dignity from all the good men^ and the entire state. Indeed, at the time that man was dying, when now the mind was oppressed in other respects, he reserved the greatest sense for the memory of the republic, when looking at me, wounded, he noted with an interrupted and dying voice how great a storm impeded me, how great a storm to the state, and when often touching that wall which was common to him with Q. Catulus^^ he repeatedly named Catulus, often me, most often the republic, so that he pained me not so much that he was dying as that he was robbed of his praetorship with the nation and even me.
---
* I believe the gist of this sentence is "Caelius couldn't be such a smart boy if he spent all his time being bad, because being a good politician takes a lot of work!" I find this somewhat unconvincing, but, hey. There you have it.
** Not really sure what this means; I guess something along the lines of "Clodia accused Caelius of trying to poison her to make it seem more likely that he tried to murder Dio," as the proposed fiendish conspiracy. But then, the footnotes refer to this whole chapter as part of Cicero's "strategy of confusion", which seems about right.
*** Clodia's dead husband. For what it's worth, none of the academic resources I'm reading seem to think she actually poisoned him, though some of them use rather dubious reasoning to decide that.
^ A stock phrase referring to the conservative party Cicero belonged to.
^^ No, not Catullus. Catulus. A staunch old conservative of the same party who'd died the year before.
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